Ballet slipper



July 13 1954 L. R. G. REKER ETAL 2,683,316v

BALLET SLIPPER Filed Feb. 14, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet l July 13, 1954 L, RG, .REKER mL 2,683,316

BALLET SLIPPER July 13, 1954 L. R. G. REKER ETAL BALLET SLIPPER3'Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 14, 1951 INVENTORS flax/fnl. BEA/:aN CLA/efrLoa/s A?. G. /FEHEA l ATroRNEYs Patented July 13, 1954 BALLET SLIPPER`Louis R. G. Reker, Evergreen Park, and Clara Edith Deitch and HaskellBenson, Chicago, Ill.

Application February 14, 1951, Serial No. 210,914

9 Claims. 1

This invention relates generally to slippers or shoes and moreparticularly to an improved slipper of the ballet style which issuitable for manufacture from flexible materials such as leather,

slipper which may be readily manufactured from only two pieces ofmaterial utilizing only an ordinary sewing machine and conventionalfabric cutting means, one piece forming the relatively stiff sole andthe other the soft, flexible upper of the slipper.

Another object is to provide a slipper which may be formed simply byfolding and stitching two fiat pieces into a nished three dimensionalshape, without need for matching several small pieces or deformingpieces by coincident bending in two directions.

Other objects and advantages of the slipper of this invention willpresent themselves to those familiar with the art on reading thefollowing specification in conjunction with the drawings and theappended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the slipper of y this invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a bottom view thereof;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the slipper at an intermediate stage in themanufacture thereof; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of theblank from which the upper is formed;

Fig. 6 is a bottom view of the toe portion of the slipper at anintermediate stage in its manufacture;

Fig. '7 is a bottom view of the toe portion of the slipper at anintermediate stage in its manufacture subsequent to that shown in Fig.6.

Theslipper l0 of this invention comprises a sheet of flexible materialII which is folded and sewn to form the upper, and a piece of moredurable material I2, which is stitched onto the .bottom of the piece IIto form the sole.

The finished slipper I0 is shown in Figs. 1-3 of the drawings, Fig. 4illustrating an intermediate step.

The procedure in constructing the` slipper I0 is best illustrat'edinFig. 5 where the vpiece I l, from which the upper is formed is shown inthe first stage of fabrication. In the figures, such as Figs. 4, 5 and6, wherever a prime mark is applied to a stitch line numeral, itindicates the position such stitch line will occupy when applied.

1 The novel construction of the slipper I0 may be best understood bysimultaneous reference to Fig. 5 and the other figures, where like partshave been given like numbers, and by consideration of the operationalsteps in the fabrication of the slipper.

The rst step is to cut the piece I I to the shape shown in the left handside of Fig. 5 from fabric or soft leather. The next step is to lay thetwo tapes I3 which form the straps or ties in the positions shown,guiding the ends of the tapes I3 through a pair of holes I4 which arecut near the rear of the piece II. The margins of the blank are thenfolded inwardly along the dot-dash line indicated at I5 to cover thetapes I3 and said folded margins are then stitched along the linesindicated at I6 and Iii' to form shirr tubes around the top of theslipper I0 as shown in the right hand side of Fig. 5. It will be notedthat the forward ends of the stitching I6 intersect the ends of thetapes I3, thereby securing the tape ends against withdrawal from theshirr tube. This'procedure eliminates the need for havingy to iish thedraw tapes through the shirr tubes as would otherwise be necessary.

The next step is to fold the two halves of the .piece il along thelongitudinal center line, with the surface which is to be the outside ofthe finished slipper on the inside (Fig. 4), and stitch the upper toeportions together along the line indicated at Il, the stitching in thisstep terminating at the matching notches I8 to be later extended to theshirr tube stitching |16 as indicated at 3l and described subsequently.The slipper now appears as shown in Fig. 4, except that the folds atdot-dash lines 23 and 2l have not yet been made.

The slipper is then turned right side out and the two tabs 20, betweencommunicating triangular cut-outs 2i and 22, cut-out 2l, having forwardedges 26 and continuing as a slit having edges 26o to the forward end ofthe upper,

round out the toe portion of the slipper to its nished shape causingfold lines to be partially formed in the material at the lines indicatedby the letter f and numeral 21 as shown in Fig. 6.

The next step is to nish the toe by drawing the front end of portion 25rearwardly over the stitched tabs .20 to the .position `shown in Figs. 1and l7 and tuo-king in the front vedges 26 of the cut-out, with theedges 26a extending transversely across the sole, to completely form thefold lines 2'! and applying the stitch lines 28 at the positions shownin Figs. 5 and 6 whereby the several portions of the slipper al1coincide as shown in Fig. '7, the stitching along the stitch line 28(Fig. 7) serving to 4hold the iront end portion of the slipper.Thestitching :along line 28 extends through the base piece .l.|.. Thetwo corners indicated at a in Fig. 5 lie adjacent to the pointsindicated vat b after the fold and stitching 28 has been made.

The toe is now substantially completed and thesole I2 may be stitched inplace by'ordinary stitching through the upper -II and the Vsole I2.

The 4position of the sole on the blank `is illustrated by'dot-dash linesin Fig. 5, and 'it `will be noted that the front end ofthe sole i2covers the folded back toe portion 25 of the upper 'H (Fig. 3). The laststep is to turn the -slipper wrong side out again 'and stitch the Aheelend and the top of the toe portion as indicated at '30 Yand 31respectively. Reversing lthe 'slipper again completes its fabrication.

`If desired the sequence of the various `steps may vloe varied somewhatfrom the described procedure. For example, if the material of `the upperis quite exible the closing of the vtoe and heel by seams 38 and 3l maybe laccon'iplished prior to the attachment of the sole 'to the upper.Similarly the ties or straps i3 may be attached after Vthe slipper isfinished, if desired. The described procedure has iproved vto beV'extremely satisfactory, however, since it 4reduces the distortion ofthe material to a minimum resulting in vstronger seams and virtually noweakening of the material.

As stated lpreviously the 'slipper of this invention lis adjustableovera range of 'sizes simply Yby fitting it on the foot and pulling theties 'I3 until a snug t is achieved. The 'reason `for 'this /is that theparticular way in which the toe is folded and stitched permits the toeportion to be drawn rearwardly by the 4ties to shorten the `length ofthe slipper, the shortening occurring uniformly throughout the vamprather than only in the instep opening yas is normally 'the case. Toexpress `it another way, as the topper- `tion of the vtoe is drawnrearwardly by the action of the ties I3, the e tire slipper is'shortenedbecause the particular folding of the material just ahead of the frontend of the instep draws material from the bottom of `the toe upwardlyvaround 'the wearers toes at the Vfront end to shorten the sole.

The basic pattern of the two blanks H and l2 may be varied somewhat from`the shapey vshown without materially -aiieoting the way -in which theslipper -I'fi is formed. For example. instead of the cutout triangularopenings 42| and 2-2 a cut Ain the shape of a doubly crossed T may beemployed to form the tabs 2Q. The triangular for-m is preferred,however, since `a flatter fold results, .there lbeing no 'need toloverlap the tabs V'when Athe Vtriangles 2l and 22 are :out out.

Another modification of the :basic 'pattern -is to make the two halvesof the pieces asymmetric in order to produce right and left slipperswhen such are desired.

Various other changes and modifications such as will present themselvesto those familiar with the art may be made without departing from thespirit of this invention the scope of which is commensurate with thetollowing claims.

What isfclalimed is:

1. A slipper comprising an upper made of a exible material, a more rigidpiece of material forming a sole secured to the upper, an a pair of drawtapes, said upper having a shirr tube on .each side .for one of saidtapes and a cut-out .at its .front end having therein two opposedtriangular tabs with apices of said tabs adjacent eachother at ithelongitudinal center line of the slipper, .said tabs being folded backone upon the other to partially form `the toe cavity oi the slipper, theportion of the upper that is in front of the tabs being stitchedtogether vin .registering alignment and secured to `the sole portion ofthe upper 'at the rear toi Y'the tabs, vthe 'sole portion 'of theupperextending "forward 'beyond the rearmost point of the secured portions.

v'2. A slipper comprising an upper of flexible material, a sole of Vmorerigid material .secured to the upper, said upper 'having .a shirr tubeon each side, a pair of draw tapes one received `Iin each shirr "tube,said upper having a cut-out spaced from its .front end having thereintwo opposed tabs with their ends adjacent each other at .thelongitudinal .center line of the slppensaid 'tabs being folded 'back`upon the upper on .the 'bottom of the .slipper to ,partially "form 'the'toe cavity of 'theslippeig the portion o'f the upper 'in iront of thetabs being folded back 'over the Atabs and extending :to the rear of'the 'tabs where 'it is secured to the sole portion of the upper, 'thesole overlapping the rearmost Apoint o the secured 'front portion.

3, A ballet slipper or similar article constructed of a single sectionof material pro'iled to define "toe, quarter, and opposed `side portionssurround- 'ing a central sole area, shirr 'tube 'flange portions ankingthe extreme edges of said .opposed .side portions and doubled overandspace-wise stitched to `their respective side portions and :havingtherewithinarelated one of a pair of draw tapes, said toe portion beingright-for-left substantially symmetrical and stitched togetherirl-registering alignment to Aeach .other and 'thereby .partiallyforming a 'toe 'box enclosure andan intermediate tube plaitoverlap,.said plait overlap being superimposed over said cavity andsecured at 'its .end by stitching within the 'forward portion Yof thesolo area.

e. The combination set 'forth in claim i3 in 'which a 'sole panel ofsemi-rigid material is perimetrically stitched over said sole area.concealingthe rear terminal end of said plait overlap.

5. The combination set forth in claim 3 in which said vtube plait'overlap comprises -a bay formation vwith opposed vtabs "secured toA'one another Pfor thereby forming 'the 'toe cavity.

"G. The Acombina'ti'on 'set forth lin claim 5 in 'which 'sa-'id tabslare ltriangular projections having a Ltriangular space 'between them.

f7. A 'blank 1for forming acne-piece upper for a ballet slipper1comprising 'an elongated piece of flexible material having 4anoutwardly convex substantially sem'icircu'lar `4fron-t end, Ia roundedvV-'shaizied rear yend, a pair of triangular out Aout fopeningscent-rally located in said :front end, land a longitudinal slitextending inwardly from the front end through one of said openings tothe other.

8. A blank for use as an upper in a slipper comprising an elongatedpiece of exible material having an outwardly convex rounded front endand a longitudinal slit extending inwardly from the front end, saidblank having cut-out portions inwardly of the slit dening portionsconverging towards each other which form a pair of tabs on oppositesides thereof.

9. A blank for forming a one-piece upper for a ballet slipper comprisingan elongated piece of exible material having an outwardly convexsubstantially semicircular front end, a rounded V-shaped rear end, apair of cut out openings centrally located in semi-circular said frontend, and a longitudinal slit extending inwardly from the front endthrough one of said openings to the other to dene a tab on either sideof said slit.

References Cited in the file 0f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,872,641 Capezio Aug. 16, 1932 1,891,022 Capezio Dec. 13,1932

